


The Great Escapade

by dont_be_startled__but_marvel



Category: UP10TION
Genre: AU, M/M, Prince Go, Sungjoon is from Busan, i'll edit as i go, wtf I'm terrible at this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-25 00:04:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12023892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dont_be_startled__but_marvel/pseuds/dont_be_startled__but_marvel
Summary: AU where when you fall in love, a tattoo appears - and changes colour depending on how it ended.Also, Kogyeol really is Prince Go.





	The Great Escapade

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [With All My Heart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/719229) by [QuinnAnderson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuinnAnderson/pseuds/QuinnAnderson). 



> This AU was inspired by QuinnAnderson's wonderful fic 'With All My Heart'.  
> Here's the link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/719229/chapters/1333025
> 
> It is also related in part to the Korean manhwa series 'Goong' ('Palace', 궁)  
> Also, please note that this is a work of pure fiction - if Korea really had a royal family, it would be one of the Lee lines.

Minsoo's decision to escape the palace had come as a surprise even to himself. It had settled over him gradually, thickening from a slight mist of discomfort to the point where he was beginning to be irritated at everything that reminded him of his royal status. And since he lived in the palace, that meant nearly everything, from the beautifully maintained gardens, dotted with pine trees centuries old to the very clothes he wore-silken robes made in the traditional style, as befitted the third son of the current monarch.

His status were just enough to ensure him solo shots in the annual family calendar, yet dampen any ambitions he might harbor in the political department. It wasn't for lack of support, for families-and their subsequent wealth-played quite a large role in the degree of success one may achieve in terms of years of office. It was, rather, a lack of motivation. Minsoo had never really felt the need to embroil himself in the steady tug-of-war that always seemed to be in progress, whatever the current problem may be. It was enough for him to see his oldest brother trapped in meeting after meeting to summon any enthusiasm for that particular path. No, he wanted a quieter life-maybe retiring as soon as he could to an apartment somewhere in Busan. Hopefully the prospect of asking Korail for seats would dissuade anyone from visiting him.

More importantly, his maternal family lived there; the Lee twins, and their older brother Sungjun, though the latter was usually away because of work. Being on good terms with relatives was something that was encouraged, regardless of how distant they may be. You could never be sure that your 'private' life would remain private when you were royalty. Minsoo's position was such that even if his successes didn't really amount to anything, his failures surely would.

He was, in short, nothing but a pawn. And the Lees were the only living relatives he could hold a conversation with and not feel like one. The rest-bloated with both an easy life of satisfaction and their own egos, though he had no idea how the two could exist together. Do large egos come pre-prepared? Handed down over the generations? He didn't really want to know. So whenever they tried to reach out to him, casting their honeyed words, laying out well-practiced flattery, he left his more silver-tongued aide to fight the battles. Sungjun, who on his seventeenth birthday had decided that Seoul was a city more deserving his youth, could usually be trusted to come and pick him up. As an additional bonus, he was on good terms with the chief of security, which meant that most of those nights ended up with Minsoo staying over at Sungjun's small one-roomed apartment. He treasured such days-but they were few, and far apart.

 

Minsoo sighed. Thinking about them increased his frustration at the world in general. He decided he had to do something. What, he wasn't so sure, but something preferably exciting, something that would let him roam free, out of the palace, out of the watchful gazes that suffocated him everywhere he went.

 

******

 

Later in the evening, he spotted something on his chest-of-drawers that gave him the beginnings of a plan.

 

******

 

"So, uh, Mr. Lee..."

The man he was addressing turned to look at him. With his brownish hair and slightly drooping eyelids, combined with an overall roundness Minsoo couldn't exactly place, he looked like a turtle, though Minsoo had been assured that his new bodyguard was anything but slow. Apparently educated in a military academy placed somewhere in the Alps, he had participated in numerous special forces missions, was proficient in numerous languages, etc., etc. The only thing that had really caught his eye on the man's resume was his age-twenty two, same as himself. He had felt a kind of awe, and also jealousy. Here he was, whiling away his free hours with nothing to do but practice calligraphy and maybe a little traditional archery if he was lucky, and this guy had traveled around half the world.

He knew this was childish-he didn't have to risk his life on a daily basis to earn his salary. That didn't stop Minsoo from incessantly prodding him for stories. Now, though, he needed the opposite.

"I'm going to meet one of my friends here."

His bodyguard considered this statement for a moment, probably picking out from a mental list the possible candidates for this 'friend'. It was a Saturday, so probably not anyone from his university clubs. No ongoing team projects either, and the chances he had received one the day before were slim-term had just ended, after all. He was close to the Lees, with the added advantage that the family was staying in Seoul for the weekend. End product; a fifty-fifty chance for each of Sungjun's younger brothers, the eldest himself currently being assaulted by a tight schedule.

"Is it Mr. Lee Hwanhee or Mr. Lee Dongyeol?"

The bodyguard asked. Misoo smiled brightly at the man.

"Hwanhee, Mr. Lee."

The man seemed to blush slightly, averting his gaze.

"No honorifics to me, please, sir. Just call me Bitto."

Standard procedure-the less you remembered about your bodyguard, the better. A bodyguard was to be trusted, not known, though Minsoo rather doubted if that hadn't already flown out of the window.

"Bitto. Hwanhee is a bit nervous around people bigger than him in general, so I was wondering..if you could stay a little farther away from us than you normally do?"

It came out as a question, the uncertainty of his tone adding extra effect. Bitto frowned, slightly.

"The cafe is too crowded at the moment, sir. Your safety is my top priority."

Misoo sighed, letting his shoulders droop.

"I know, but..."

But what? He searched frantically inside his head, grasping for straws.

"Sir?"

Trust would be the safest path, he decided. Hopefully Bitto would forgive him for betraying that exact same thing a few moments after.

"I appreciate your concern for my safety," he said, selecting his words carefully. "And I am well aware of the consequences that may happen if I were to be separated from my bodyguard. But only _if_."

He gestured toward the people sitting in front of tables, drinking, eating, chattering amongst themselves.

"Our current table offers a fair view of where I will be meeting Hwanhee in-" he glanced at his watch, "-five minutes. Just about two tables away would be enough-I won't ask you for anything more than that."

"I trust you, Bitto, as my bodyguard. But no ruler can exist without his people. Your duty encompasses much more than just me-it also includes those whom we see around us even now; the subjects of the crown. You have an obligation to fulfill, to do your best to protect them, even if I may be your main priority. Do you understand?"

 _Please do_ , he prayed silently, _though honestly I don't have an inkling myself._

After a short pause, Bitto bowed, bringing his left hand up to his sternum.

"Yes, your Highness."

 

******

 

Five minutes after, Minsoo was sitting in front of a smooth wooden table that resembled exactly the one that he had just left. He could sense his bodyguard somewhere behind him, two tables across. Exactly as he had requested. He stared down at the perspiring plastic lid of his iced mocha latte.

"Hyung, you're going to vaporize your latte, I swear." Hwanhee said, ice cubes clinking in his tumbler as he stirred the contents with a straw. When Minsoo didn't respond, he let it go, where it bobbed along with the ice cubes, and waved his now-free hand in front of Minsoo's face.

"Knock, knock? Is Minsoo-hyung there?"

"No, he isn't." Minsoo replied wearily. Seeing Hwanhee beginning to pout, however, he quickly added, "He's with you."

Despite having celebrated his nineteenth birthday a few months ago, Hwanhee was still a kid. Sungjun had once complained that Hwanhee had been born twelve, and thereafter was refusing to budge from that stage. Minsoo agreed, especially when he was with Dongyeol. The two of them stirred up even more trouble than a pair of Labradors in a china shop.

Speaking of trouble...

"Hwanhee," he asked, "Would you mind stirring up a commotion for me?"

Hwanhee grinned.

"At your service."

His eyes, Minsoo noticed, were unusually bright. Either he had contact lenses on, which was unlikely, or he was hyper, which was probably the case.

"How many shots did you ask for in there?" he asked, nodding at the metal tumbler clutched in Hwanhee's left hand. The other was tracing random patterns on the table.

"Five, maybe? Technically, I only added one-the rest were already part of the menu."

Minsoo briefly debated the wisdom of sending a hyperactive Lee Hwanhee to create pandemonium on purpose.

 _You might not see this coffe shop again_ , his sensible side warned.

 _Shut up_ , he told it.

"Okay...so you're up to the job?"

"Yeah. When, and where?"

"Uh, right now-no, not literally. Hwan-ah!"

He explained the situation to Hwanhee, warning him not to let anything show in his expression. By the time he was finished, his younger cousin was wriggling with excitement.

"So you're going to escape the palace? That's so cool!"

'Cool' wasn't exactly what Minsoo thought of it. Exciting, yes, and certainly risky, but hopefully it would be worth it. The prospect of spending another night inside those stone walls was unbearable.

Hwanhee glanced over Minsoo's shoulder and whispered, "He's occupied at the moment. Managers' threatening to throw him out if he doesn't order anything."

"It won't last," Minsoo murmured, thinking of the certificate Bitto would be carrying, proving that his client was a member of the royal household. To defy it would be akin to intervening with official duties.

"Don't worry. She's strong, and has a loud voice." Hwanhee assured him. "Look, everyone's staring at them already."

Minsoo glanced around at the interested faces turned towards the source of the commotion, and sighed.

"Fine. On the count of three?"

"Nah. I'll go first. Hyung can go whenever you think it's okay."

His tumbler in one hand and Minsoo's half-finished drink in the other, Hwanhee proceeded to weave his way through a forest of pulled-out chairs in the direction of the bins. He was almost there, lips moving along with the song playing through the speakers, when he suddenly lost his footing. He thrust out his hands to stop the fall, letting go of both drinks simultaneously. The containers, blurting out a stream of liquid before them, sailed over his head and executed a perfect double landing amidst a puddle of spilled coffee.

Minsoo was already out of the door when he heard the crash. He winced, knowing that the tumbler that had caused it would now have several dents from colliding with the stone floor, and began to walk towards the nearest subway station.

 


End file.
